Dire Straits were a British rock band who emerged during the post-punk era of the late 1970s, active between 1977 and 1995. Comprising Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), his younger brother David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion), and managed by Ed Bicknell, Dire Straits played a more bluesy style, and while their sound was minimalistic and stripped down, they owed little to punk rock which was at the...